Microsoft’s Bing search engine reported a nice improvement in total search share in February, according to Web analytics firm comScore. And while Bing did increase its share from 11.3 percent in January to 11.5 percent last month, that growth rate was its slowest since September.
Meanwhile, Yahoo continued its unfettered freefall, dropping from 17 percent in January to 16.8 percent in February. This latest little dip is emblematic of a much larger problem for Carol Bartz and company. The one-time search leader has now reported declining search market share for 13 consecutive months.
Datamation reports that this latest data must be music to the ears of the 800-pound gorilla, Google. It managed to inch up its share 0.1 percent to 65.4 percent, bringing it within whispering distance of its peak of 65.7 percent in December.
Microsoft’s Bing search engine experienced its ninth straight month of market share growth in February, but at the slowest rate since September, according to a leading Web analytics firm.
Just launched in June, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Bing finished February with a total 11.5 percent share of U.S. searches, according to a new report from comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR). That was up from 11.3 percent in January and 10.7 percent in December.
Meanwhile, Microsof’ts new partner, Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), had its 13th straight decline in market share for February, falling 0.2 percent in February to 16.8 percent, down from 17 percent the previous month.
That leaves search giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) with 65.5 percent for February, up 0.1 percent from January’s mark of 65.4 percent, but still shy of the 65.7 percent share it had in December.